Sydney beachgoers rattled after first fatal shark attack in 60 years
SYDNEY: Several Sydney beaches, including the iconic Bondi and Bronte, were shut down on Thursday after a swimmer was killed in a shark attack, the first such fatality at the city’s beaches in nearly 60 years.
Drum lines, which are used to bait sharks, have been set up near the attack site while drones have been deployed as officials search for if the shark is still in the area.
A video shared online showed a shark attacking a person on Wednesday afternoon off Little Bay beach, about 20km south of Australia’s largest city and near the entrance to Botany Bay.
Police have yet to identify its victim. A rescue helicopter and four ambulances were dispatched, but the victim perished after suffering what emergency responders described as “catastrophic injuries”.
“This has been a complete shock for our community,” Dylan Parker, the mayor of Randwick Council which includes Little Bay, told Reuters.
A charity ocean swim at a nearby beach scheduled for Sunday was cancelled out of respect for the victim and family.
Organisers of the Murray Rose Malabar Magic Ocean Swim had considered postponing the swim till March, but said they decided to cancel it after consulting with the local council and lifesavers.
A spokesperson for the New South Wales department of primary industries said its shark biologists believe that a white shark at least 3m in length was likely responsible for the attack.
It was the first fatal shark attack in Sydney since 1963, data showed. Authorities have ordered people to remain out of the water.
Rare baby ghost shark delights NZ scientists While typically heard in an omnipresent children’s song, the phrase baby shark has delighted New Zealand scientists after the rare discovery of a juvenile ghost shark during a survey off the east coast of the country’s South Island.
Ghost sharks, also known as chimaeras, are not really sharks but are related to sharks since both of their skeletons consist of cartilage rather than bone.
Not much is known about these marine creatures because they usually reside at depths of up to 1,829m, largely inaccessible to researchers.
“What we do know tends to come from the large adults which are usually a metre, a metre and a half in length, so finding one that actually kind of just sits in the palm of my hand is incredibly uncommon,” Brit Finucci, a scientist at New Zealand’s National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research said on Thursday.